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We get many inquiries from outside of Nevada asking: “Can I get a “quickie” Nevada divorce?” The answer to that question depends upon how you define the word “quick.”

To obtain a divorce in Nevada, you must become a Nevada resident by living here a minimum of six weeks. Residence requires your physical presence in this State for that entire length of time. Once you have lived here six full weeks, you may file a Complaint for Divorce. To obtain the divorce, you must swear under penalty of perjury that it has been your intent to make Nevada your home for the requisite period of time.

How fast things progress depends upon the cooperation of your spouse. First, he/she must be served with the divorce papers. If served personally with process, he/she will have twenty days to file a responsive pleading in Nevada. If he/she does not, a default divorce may then be obtained. If your spouse chooses to contest the divorce, the matter may take several months or more.

If your spouse cannot be served personally, then service of process may be made by publication. That means that the summons will be published in the newspaper once a week for four weeks and a copy mailed to your spouse. Upon completion of publication, he/she will then have twenty days to file a responsive pleading. If a responsive pleading is not filed, a default divorce may then be obtained. However, if your spouse responds, the matter will become contested and may take several months or more.

If your spouse agrees to the divorce and is willing to file a document with the court consenting to Nevada jurisdiction and to entry of a decree of divorce, the divorce may be granted fairly quickly. Ideally, before you make the commitment to move to Nevada, you and your spouse should be in accord and have the issues of your marriage resolved by agreement.

Many problems may arise when someone comes to Nevada for a “fast and simple” divorce. For example, unless your spouse personally appears in the Nevada divorce action or is under the jurisdiction of the Nevada courts, the only relief the court may grant is a decree of divorce. Property division, support obligations, child custody, visitation and child support matters must be litigated in the state having personal jurisdiction over both parties.

You may wind up spending a significant amount of money fighting over which state gets to grant the divorce before you ever even get to the merits of your case. This situation may arise where you file for divorce in one state and your spouse files in another. At the conclusion of the fight over jurisdiction, you then face the costs of litigating the property, support and custody issues of your case; another expensive proposition.

Your spouse may choose to ignore the Nevada action, allowing you to obtain a divorce by default but then may attack the Nevada divorce when you attempt to enforce it in another state. If you do not carefully meet the requirements of Nevada residency, you run the risk that another state will not recognize your decree of divorce and will treat it as a nullity.

Under the U.S. Constitution, one state must enforce the judgments (including judgments of divorce) of a court of another state. However, the second state has the right to inquire as to whether the first state had jurisdiction to enter a judgment in the first place. If a person comes to Nevada and lives out of suitcase in a motel for six weeks, files for divorce and immediately goes back “home” to his/her job and life, can it truly be said he/she validly became a Nevada resident? If that were you, could you, in good faith, swear under oath that you intended to make Nevada your home, residence and domicile for an indefinite period of time?

If that Nevada decree is challenged in another state, the court in that state may determine that since you left Nevada immediately at the conclusion of six weeks, you did not validly establish residency. Without genuine residency, the Nevada court would not have jurisdiction to grant a divorce. Thus, your Nevada decree could be held invalid by a court in a state having jurisdiction over both you and your spouse. What if you remarry, only to have your divorce set aside later in another state?

If your are willing to do it right, you may move to Nevada and be divorced here. Before coming here, though, make sure you are willing to make that commitment and are ready to face the special problems which may arise.

• To counsel no other actions except those which appear to be legal and just;
• To employ only such means as are consistent with the truth;
• To never mislead judges or juries by any artifice or false statement of fact;
• To advance no fact prejudicial to the honor or reputation of a witness;
• To refrain from bringing or defending cases or assertions or controverting issues unless there is a basis for doing so that is not frivolous;
• To refrain from making false statements of material fact to tribunals;
• To refrain from offering evidence that the lawyer knows to be false;
• To refrain from seeking to influence a judge or a juror by means prohibited by law;
• To refrain from knowingly making false statements of material facts to witnesses; and
• To refrain from using means that have no substantial purpose other than to embarrass or burden witness.

It is difficult at the onset of a lawsuit to foresee how long it will take to complete. We are better able to give you a range of time after the case has been partially prepared and we understand what is at issue. The time involved is primarily based on three factors:

1. The number and complexity of the contested issues;
2. The intensity of feelings between the parties and whether there is an inclination to settle; and
3. The court’s calendar. A hearing is requested according to the amount of time needed. A brief hearing can usually be scheduled within 60 to 90 days. A full divorce trial, taking a full day or more, usually must be scheduled six months to one year in advance.

By far, the factor which makes lawsuits last longer is the intensity of the feelings between the parties and how much the parties want to fight.

It is difficult to make a realistic estimate of the total fee until we know what issues will be contested and the intensity of the parties’ feelings. The parties, not the lawyers, determine the amount of attorneys fees in their case. If the parties want to settle, make compromises, and end the matter quickly, they can do so. If the parties do not trust each other, want to complete discovery of all assets and liabilities, and argue many issues to the bitter end, no matter what the issue is, the process becomes very long, drawn out and expensive. Going to trial is almost always more expensive than settling the lawsuit.

When we discuss “expensive,” you should be aware that you will pay three ways-with your time, the hole in your stomach, and the hole in your pocketbook.

1. Time. You will have to spend your time to prepare your lawsuit. Your spouse does not prepare your lawsuit; your spouse’s attorney does not prepare your lawsuit. Your attorney prepares your lawsuit. We do that with your help. You must make a commitment to put time into your case. It takes hard work. If you are not prepared to spend the time and do the work, then your case will not be as satisfactorily or inexpensively prepared as it would be if you made the expenditure of time.
2. The Hole in Your Stomach.Many health professionals will tell you that experiencing a divorce is one of the most painful things you will endure. Your emotions will likely roller-coaster. It is unusual for both parties to have the same degree of emotion over ending the relationship and, therefore, one party is very often emotionally hurt along the way. We know that one party is usually the initiator who has worked through the hurt and grief caused by the end of the relationship even before the other party is aware something in the relationship is wrong. If you are not the initiator (no matter who the legal plaintiff may be), then the path toward knowledge and acceptance of the end of the relationship must still be traveled. If that is you, then divorce can be an extremely painful process, which is one reason we strongly recommend counseling. If it is not, you may have an angry and irrational spouse to deal with in the legal arena. Doing emotional (and financial) business through lawyers is the most expensive (and perhaps least productive) method.

The more issues raised, the more painful the process and the more ways to drag out the matter and punish the opposing party. You should be aware of this, and we will call this to your attention when we see this happening. We strongly urge you to read Diane Vaughn’s book Uncoupling to gain insight into the process which ends relationships. At our initial interview we should give you a copy of the book, but if we do not, please ask. You may suggest that your spouse read the book, too. Our clients have uniformly praised it.

3. The Hole in Your Pocketbook. Because preparing and trying a lawsuit is very expensive, we want you to scrutinize the issues at an early stage and determine what issues can be settled. We do not recommend making unreasonable or unnecessary concessions, but we recommend you look carefully at the issues that separate you and your spouse. You do exercise some control over issues and so if there are concessions you can make that will bring your case to a speedy conclusion and thus reduce your fees, please consider making them. You should weigh the price that you pay with your time, the hole in your stomach and the hole in your pocketbook to determine whether certain issues are worth litigation.

The attorney sells his or her time. If you can save the attorney time by doing some of the spadework, then your money will be more efficiently used.

4. The Other Hole in Your Pocketbook.Because preparing and trying a lawsuit is emotionally and financially draining, your spouse may try to bully you by taking extremely litigious and contrary positions. Settlement demands may be so unreasonable that you must simply endure the hardship and fight for a just and fair result. While the costs of litigation may be great in the short run, what your spouse demands to avoid them may be just too much. By definition, a divorce will involve your livelihood and your fortune (and if you have them, your priceless children), and that is something worth fighting for. By being reasonable yourself and understanding our advice, you may have to make the decision to resist being tyrannized or blackmailed. Being willing to go to court to protect your rights is not the same as being greedy or unreasonable. If you are advised your position is reasonable and your spouse’s position is unfair, you should be ready to do what you have to do to protect your legitimate interests.